Dragon's Pride (Dragon Blaze Ops Book 3) Read online

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  Dragon’s Pride

  Dragon Blaze Ops: Book Three

  A Curvy Girl Military Romance

  by Jasmine Wylder

  Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Epilogue

  Thank You!

  Also by Jasmine Wylder

  About the Author

  Dedication

  To my loved ones B & B, who encouraged me to fly toward my dream:

  Let’s soar.

  Chapter One

  Fifteen Years Ago

  Clementine always loved these times. When the world was quiet and still in the early hours of night. When the sun had gone to bed, but its light still bathed the sky in a purple glow. With the sound of waves lapping against the beach and the first stars peeking above them. The warmth of a fire crackling and the arms of her dragon around her.

  “It really is a perfect night, isn’t it?” she murmured, her ear against his chest so she could listen to the steady beat of his heart.

  “It sure is,” Eugene replied, brushing his lips against her ear. “I could fall asleep and stay right here all night. What do you think? Ignore curfew, let your dad come after me with that shotgun of his. Who cares what people think? Let’s just stay here all night. Just you and me and the stars and the sky.”

  Clementine giggled. Even though that sounded like a pretty enticing offer, she didn’t think it was such a good idea. Her whole body was tingling with delight at being close to him. If they were here as night wore on, as thoughts turned to feeling more than anything else, then it would be difficult to keep the promise they’d made each other, to wait to have sex until they knew for certain they were ready.

  At fourteen, Clementine had learned enough to know that, even if she had these desires, she wasn’t ready. Not emotionally, not physically. Besides which, they had nothing to prevent pregnancy, and she had no plans to become a teenage mother.

  Laying so close to him with the thought of staying out here all night was a serious temptation, though. Clementine pulled away from Eugene, even though the air was chilly without him.

  “You know what I think we need? To go swimming. Just charge right into the water.”

  “It’s September.” Eugene’s brow furrowed. “The water is going to be freezing. We’d have to go straight home if we did that or you’d freeze.”

  “I wouldn’t freeze,” Clementine protested. “I’d shift first. Mountain lion fur is thick enough that the water wouldn’t get into my skin.”

  Eugene frowned. “But then you’d have to stay a mountain lion until it was time to go home… Unless you’re saying you want to stay all night?” He wiggled his brows at her.

  Didn’t he understand what she was trying to do? The temptation was so great, but she didn’t want to have to say she wanted to pack up and go now. Just a little longer with it being just the two of them here. And doing something that wouldn’t lead to making the biggest mistake of their young lives.

  “No.” She made her voice firm and decisive, even though her mountain lion pawed at her chest and made a growling, chuffing noise that it had started to do recently. “I have to be up early tomorrow to study for my biology test. You know how important that is for me.”

  Eugene sprawled back on the blanket, flexing his muscles, which over the past year had become more and more defined. “Okay, but how’s this? I can help you study for it right now.”

  Even though Clementine knew he was just trying to be funny, she frowned at him. Her mood cooled slightly. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate his brand of humor, but more and more lately he’d been pushing her to put off her schoolwork or extracurriculars in favor of spending time with him. She’d agreed to come out here with him but had set her own curfew—because if she could get a high enough grade on this next test, her biology teacher agreed to bump her up to a higher grade level for the rest of the year.

  “You know how important this is for me,” she repeated, hoping that he really did know. “And it’d be nice if you weren’t always trying to distract me.”

  “Is it wrong that I want to spend so much time with my girlfriend?” Eugene’s grin turned into a slightly frustrated expression. “I know that this has got you all stressed out and everything, but I’m just trying to get you to relax a little. Didn’t you tell me that when people push themselves too hard, they’re not as efficient as they could be?”

  Clementine bit her lip. “Well… yes… but that’s not the point. I don’t mean that I never want to spend time with you. I’m here, aren’t I? I just… wish you were more supportive.”

  “I guess I don’t understand why you need to study so much when you’re already the most brilliant person in this town.”

  Clementine retook her spot beside him. “You only say that because you love me.”

  “I say it because it’s true. Although I do love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Eugene stroked his fingers through her hair. “Sometimes I wish we didn’t have to live separately. There’s so much room on the farm, and I get so lonely looking at that space and thinking what it’d be like if you filled it.”

  Even though the words were sweet, even though she knew the sentiment behind them was about wanting to be close, a shiver ran down Clementine’s spine. She pulled away from Eugene, not looking at him. “I’m not a farm girl. And if we were living together, then we really would get into trouble.”

  “No, we wouldn’t.”

  “People would assume we would. Kids at school already ask me all the time if I’m still a virgin.”

  Eugene rolled his eyes. “What does it matter what they think? Yeah, they say things, but that’s because their parents don’t bother to tell them anything about sex so they’re all obsessed with it. We’re different. We talked to each other, we talked to our parents. We already know that we’re not ready, and we’re not going to start doing things we don’t think we’re ready for just because we’re closer.”

  Clementine pinched the sand between her fingers and shrugged. “It’s not about that. Well. Not all about that. But if we were always so close, all I’d want to do is spend every minute with you. I need to study more and have fewer distractions. College isn’t that far away.”

  “College is, like, five years away.”

  “I told you I want to go to college when I’m sixteen. I need to work harder if I’m goi
ng to do it.”

  Eugene sighed. “You’re a shifter. You have a long, long life ahead of you. Why are you rushing these things?”

  “Because I have a plan, and I’m going to stick to it.” She glared at him. Why couldn’t he understand how important this was to her? “I have to do it this way, otherwise who knows what’s going to happen? Grandma isn’t doing well; I need to have her with me when I open up that acceptance letter. All that aside,” she added, pulling the ace out of her sleeve, “my parents would never let me go live with you. I’m fourteen years old, and you’re only sixteen. That is way too young.”

  “Clementine—”

  She shook her head, cutting him off. “The future won’t take care of it itself, and we have keep working for what we want now, or it’ll be too late. I can’t just move in with you. That’s crazy.”

  “Dad and Mom started living together when they were teens, and Modir joined them just out of her teens.”

  Clementine shook her head again. “Because Jane’s parents kicked her out for dating a shifter. And neither of them got to finish high school until Modir joined them. Do you want that for us? Do you want to live on that farm your entire life?”

  “I wouldn’t mind it, I don’t think.” Eugene shrugged, scowling at the water.

  How was it that just five minutes ago everything was so peaceful and now they were having this fight? Clementine wanted to scream. Why did everything always have to end like this lately?

  “Are you saying you don’t want to stay here?” He looked up at her, his brow creasing.

  “Stay? No. I can’t go through med school here. I can’t get my residency here. After, maybe I’ll want to come back. I love this little town. I’d love to be near my parents and your parents. And it’d be great to have all this space for when we have kids. But I don’t want to spend my entire life here.”

  Eugene’s scowl deepened. “So thinking about you coming to live on the farm means you’ll be stuck here the rest of your life? Life exists beyond your twenties, you know. So what if you don’t get into med school in two years? Your grandma knows what you’re working for, and she’s got your trust fund set up so you can go whenever you get accepted. Why are you sacrificing the now just so you can be the chief physician of a hospital by the time you’re thirty? Is the world going to end if you stretch it out a few more years?”

  “I’m not moving in with you,” Clementine snapped. “I just asked you to be more supportive and so you decide to start telling me that I’m wrong for the dreams I have?”

  “I never said that!”

  “You might as well have. If you really loved me, wouldn’t you be trying to help me reach my goals?” Clementine knew it was unfair to say as soon as she said it. Eugene went rigid, and she bit her lip. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that. I’m just—”

  “Stressed.”

  Clementine nodded miserably. Everything he was saying about moving in together wasn’t helping it at all. She tried to get him to talk about what he wanted to do with his future all the time, but all he ever said was that he wanted to marry her and have kids. She wanted that, too, but without knowing what else he wanted, how was she supposed to fit them both together in her plans?

  Eugene tugged her back down next to him. “And you think that living together is going to make things worse? Even though then I could be there to help you study? And I mean really help you. Flashcards and all that.”

  Clementine shrugged. “I don’t like the thought of what other people would say.”

  “Then let’s get married.”

  She snorted. “Yeah, right.”

  Eugene cupped her face in his hands and drew her into a kiss. It sent shivers down her spine and made her smile. She did like the idea of studying together all the time but knew from experience that was more likely to end up as a distraction. The idea of marrying, though. That was just ridiculous.

  “I’m serious,” Eugene whispered after he broke the kiss. “We already know we’re going to get married. Why wait? Why not just do it now? We love each other. We’re fated mates. We can get married and—”

  “What?” Clementine jerked away from him. Her eyes went wide as she realized he wasn’t joking. He was dead serious about this. If he wasn’t so serious, she’d laugh. She almost did anyway from sheer shock. “We can’t get married.”

  “Why not?”

  “Well, for one thing, we’re too young. I don’t think it’s even legal.”

  Eugene laughed. “I looked it up. We can both get married with parental consent, and I don’t think it’s going to take much to get either of our parents to agree. Not when they already know we’re mates. And it’ll mean that things are easier, legally, because then we can have a joint bank account and I can drop out of school and start working so that—”

  “No! No, you’re not dropping out of school. Eugene, this is crazy.” Clementine didn’t even know why he was suggesting it. “Regardless of legality, we’re too young. The timing is completely wrong and… and you can’t just say let’s get married when I’m stressed out about the idea of even living together. That’s not how it works. Marriage isn’t a miraculous cure-all!” She scrambled to her feet as he opened his mouth. “I want to go home.”

  Eugene shut his mouth. Surprise, hurt and confusion passed over his face.

  Tears burned in Clementine’s eyes as he drove her back home. She didn’t tell her parents why he’d dropped her off early or about the fight they’d had—not until the next day, when Eugene’s mother, Jane, showed up at their house, distraught.

  Eugene had left a note. He was joining the military and was already gone.

  Chapter Two

  Present Day

  The whiskey scorched down his throat as Eugene slammed back the shot. Normally he wasn’t one for drinking so much, but at the moment he just wanted the alcohol in his body. It wasn’t healthy, he knew, but maybe if he got drunk enough, he could flirt with any one of the curvaceous women in this bar. Then, flirting could lead to making out, then her place or his and he could just completely forget about what had brought him here in the first place.

  Fifteen years since he’d last been close with Clementine. Now the woman he had once wanted to marry was being held prisoner. A traitor to everything he stood for. When he had seen her again after all that time, he thought… but that was ridiculous.

  He glanced at the file he wasn’t actually supposed to have. All the details about the evidence against Clementine. She had been chief physician at the Magnus Academy, where they both worked. Eugene was part of the Blaze Ops, a team that specialized in covert, off-the-books rescue and recovery. Clementine was the one who patched them up when things went wrong.

  At least, until they realized that she was feeding information to the Pack, the Academy’s greatest enemy.

  Eugene shut the file. He couldn’t keep torturing himself. It was fifteen years since he’d been in a relationship with her. Things had changed a great deal since then. For one, he was a Major in the military. And she was a traitor.

  Besides which, even before it was revealed she was a traitor, she had made it very clear that she didn’t want anything to do with him.

  And as much as he’d like to get drunker, do the flirting and the going back to the apartment with a pretty woman thing, he knew there was something else that would be more productive.

  So, he gathered up his things, slapped some money on the bar and headed out. Colonel Patrick Sheen, commander of the Blaze Ops, usually worked fairly late. Eugene was happy to see the light in his office was on. He knocked, in case Patrick’s mate was in there with him.

  “Come in,” Patrick called.

  Eugene stumbled in. He went to the desk and saluted sloppily to show this wasn’t a social visit and slapped the file down. “Took that. I wanted to see for myself.”

  Patrick glanced at the file and then back up at him. His expression was one of understanding. “I was wondering when you’d get around to that. Everybody else already took it. Only Adam a
sked if he could.”

  “Well, I didn’t… want to be told no and then have to steal it anyway,” Eugene mumbled.

  Patrick smirked as he took the file. “You’re lucky that we aren’t strict here. If this was a regular base of operations, I’d do more than write you up for this. But now that you’ve seen the evidence yourself, does it make it any better?”

  “No.”

  “I didn’t think it would. You can talk to her if you want—”

  “No,” Eugene snarled out, more harshly than he intended. “No, I’m not going to talk to her. That’s a bad idea.”

  Patrick rose a brow. “And why is that?”

  Eugene stared at him blankly for a moment before he remembered—Patrick didn’t know. “Oh. Right. Clementine and I dated when we were in high school.”

  “Oh. Well… was it serious?”

  “I proposed.”

  Patrick laced his fingers together and leaned his elbows on the desk, a look of mild surprise on his face. “In high school? Did you give her your graduation ring?”

  “It’s worse than that. We hadn’t even graduated yet. I was sixteen. She was fourteen. She turned me down, I ran off to join the military. And ever since then, I’ve wanted to find her and get down on one knee, hoping that this time it would be the right timing.”

  Patrick rubbed his eyes. Eugene understood. It was a long time to be holding onto the flame. A long time to be madly in love with someone who didn’t love him back. Hadn’t Clementine’s coldness toward him since he arrived here to find that she also worked with the Academy proven that?

  “I just don’t know if…” Eugene struggled through the whiskey in his brain to form a coherent sentence. “If I can accept this. It’s so different from the Clementine I knew. She always had a one-track mind, but her determination was because she wanted to help. I don’t understand why she’d get herself involved in… that,” he spat as he pointed to the file.

  The Pack’s manifesto was against everything that was good and decent in the world. Eugenics, shifter supremacy. Taking the ability to shift away from the ‘undeserving’ and making all non-shifters slaves. It was horrific. For Clementine to get herself mixed up in that… he just didn’t understand it.